Wire drawing machine



2 Sheets-Sfieet 1 Filed May 17, 1930 April 25, 1933.

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April 25, 1933.- E, w CLARK WIRE DRAWING.MACHINE Filed May 17, 1930 2Sheets-Sheet 2 v Inventor; Ernest-W Clark, bg Wm Hi Abbor'neg.

Federated Apr. 25, lhdd toss rarest ERNEST W. RX, 013 QCHENECTADY, NEWYUJRK, ASSIGNQR T9 omvman ELEGEC WMFANY, A CORPORATION 035' NEW YGRKWIRE DEAWNG MACHINE Application filed May 17,

'lhe' present invention relates to machines for drawing wire of onediameter to wire of a substantially smaller diameter and has-for itsobject the provision of a machine of improved and simplifiedconstruction. My improvements are especially directed to the arrangementof the driving mechanism whereby the drawing rolls are positively drivenat their proper and diflerent speeds from one centrally disposed shaft;to the arrangement of parts whereby horizontal drawing rolls and diesare supported (in rows) one above the other on the front side of avertical partition or wall so that the wire may readily be threadedthrough the dies and around the rolls, and to the driving mechanismwhich runs in oil located in back of the partition and suitably enclosedto prevent oil leakage and also prevent injury both to the machineoperator and also to the mechanism itself,

- Other features of advantage will be referred to specifically later on.

For a consideration of what ll believe to be novel and my invention,attention is directed to the accompanying description and the claimsappended thereto.

in the drawings which are illustrative oii one of the embodiments of myinvention Fig. l is a view in iront elevation of a wire rawing machine;Fig. 2 is a vertical section; Figs. 3 and d are sectional views of therolls; Fig. 5 is a holder for a die, and Fig. d is a perspectivediagrammatic view illustrating the driving mechanism.

7 illustrates a rectangular boa-dike frame which rests on the door orother suitable support and inside thereof, where it is protected frominjury, is the driving electric motor 8, the latter being secured bybolts to the bottom wall of the frame 7. Mounted on top oi the mainframe 7 is a secondary frame comprising top and bottom walls hand 10which are united by a vertical partition or wall 11 and end walls 12,;the whole forming a rectangular box; The back is enclosed by a removablecover 13 which supports the bearings for the various driving shafts. Theinner ends of the shafts are carried by bearings su ported by thevertical partition ii. T e in f r drawing the Wire are camed 1930.Serial N0. M35375.

by short horizontal shafts and are located on the front side of verticalpartition ll. As

will be seen the driving mechanism is wholly in back of the partitionand the rolls in front so that there is no danger of the operator beinginjured or a piece of the wire or other foreign matter getting caught,in the gears. The arrangement also prevents the lubricant supplied tothe drawing rolls from mixing with the oil which lubricates the drivinggears.

'lhe wire it to be drawn is mounted on a reel 15 carried by a shaft, andthe latter is mounted in one or more suitable bearing standards 16.Other means of supply for the wire may be used. The wire passes from thereel over a guide roller 17 of the sheave type which is carried by abracket attached to t e secondary frame and from it passes through asuccession of dies 18, usually of the diamond type, which reduce itsdiameter and over a series of drawing rolls 19 of which there may beany'suitable number, twelve being shown in the present instance, Fig. it.There is also a correspondin number oi dies. As a general thin it maystated that the greater the desire reduction in section of the wire thegreater will be the number of dies end rolls. in some instances only asingle roll is mounted on a driving shaft and in other cases a greaternumber as will be seen from Fig. d. The drawin rolls are arranged in twohorizontall ispd sets, one above the other, and eac succeeding rollbeing oiiset so that the angle of the wire in entering each roll isreduced to a minimum. These sets are so arranged with respect to themain drivin shaft that one is above and the other below it, thus malrinthe errengemeht symmetrical with the main shaft in the center. The wireafter it has been reduced in diameter by passing through the successivedies is wound on a power driven reel 20 which latter is mounted on astandard or support 21. Between the last drawing roll on the machineandthe reel is a tension device 22 of any suitable construction, thedetails of which are immaterial in the present case.

in order to lubricate the wire in its passage through the machine a pairof lib lid

. whole 50 pipes 23 is provided which are supplied with ubricant fromthe pump 24 which is driven by the small electric motor 25, or it may besupplied from a central pump and tank feeding several machines. Thesides of the'base of the main frame 7 are raised as shown in Fig. 2 toform a reservoir into which the lubricant from the upper frame flowsthrough a suitable drain after lubricating the wire and from which thepump receives its supply. The front of the upper or secondary frame isprovided with a lip 26 which with the ends of the frame forms a pocket27 'to collect lubricant. As the rolls are fast running it is desirableto protect the operator from any.

possible injury therefrom and also to revent the lubricant fromspattering outwardly over the front of the machine, and for this purposea flexible metal curtain 28 is provided which rolls up and down like anordinary window shade. It is carried on a spindle 29 and the parts areenclosed in a casing 30. The curtain is guided at its side edges byparts of the frame.

In Fig. 3 is shown one of the drawing rolls over which the wire iswrapped once or twice to insure the proper drawing or pulling eifect. Itis keyed to one of the driving shafts and is held in place thereon by anut or other means 35 which is' located on the front side of themachine. It is provided with a beveled or coned surface 36 which guidesthe wire gpwnward onto the cylindrical part or drum with drum surfacesof two diameters and around which the wire is wraped twice in the courseofits travel through the machine. Al though the drawing rolls may bemade out of a single piece of material it is desirable to make them outof two or more pieces as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. By this arrangement ifa given roll or part of a two stage or double roll wears more rapidlythan another part, it is only necessary to replacethe worn part insteadof a complete roll. The diameters of the rolls are fixed to suit thespeed of the wire and said rolls are interchangeable in or in part, itbeing remembered that the wire must travel faster near the exit than theentrance because the wire is being continuall elongated as its diameteris reduced. T e difference in speed of the wire can be compensated forto a certain extent by changes of diameter of the drum surfaces butsince sli page of the wire on the drums is to be avoided as fully aspossible, it is important not'only to change the diameters but also thespeed of rotation as well. The means by which this is done willbedescribed below.

' 0n the shaft of the motor 8 is mounted a small pulley over which isthe driving belt 40. On the shaft/41 which for convenience may be termedthe main driving shaft is mounted asecond and larger pulley so as to InFig. 4 is shown a double drawing roll the vertical partition 11. On theshaft 41 is mounted a spur gear wheel 45 and a pinion 46, best shown inFig. 6; the gear 45 drives a pinion 47 mounted on the horizontal shaft48. On the front end of the shaft is a gear 49 which meshes with acompanion gear 50 that is mountedon a roll carrying shaft 51. Thisparticular shaft drives a pair of rolls. 52 and 53 in the lower row, theformer being smaller in diameter than the latter because the wirepassing around it does not have as high a lineal speed as when it passesover the roll 53; The diameter'and speed of rotation of this and otherrolls are so selected as to have as nearly as possible the sameperipheral speed as the lineal speed of the wire passing thereover so asto avoid slippage of the wire on the rolls as fully as possible.Slippage of the wire on the rolls creates friction and heat and resultsin wearing of the peripheral surfaces of the rolls. The lubricantsprayed from thepipes 23 lubricates the dies, reduces wearand preventsan excessive rise of temperature of the wire, dies and rolls. Because itis impracticable to use spur gears to drive all of the rolls .andparticularly those at the extreme ends of the machine because of thedistance between shaft centers, a sprocket 55 is mounted on the rollshaft 51 and connected by a chain 56 to the sprocket 57 mounted on theshaft 58 which latter drives two rolls 59 .and 60 located at the extremeleft-hand end of the lower row of drawing rolls. lhese rolls differ indiameter for the reasons above stated. To take u an idler 61 is emplb inan adjustable hanger 62. v

Returning again to the pinion 47, it also acts as an idler to drive agear 63 mounted on a horizontal shaft 64 which at its front end anyslack in the chain drives a pair of rolls 65 and 66 of differentdiameters for the reasons above specified. It also drives a sprocket 67,and through a chain 68 drives the shaft 69. With the chain is employedan adjustable idler 70 supported in the same manner as idler 61. On theshaft 69 are two rolls 71 and 72, the outer one being larger thantheinner one because of the difference in linear speed of the wire atthis point. The roll 72 is the (pine shown in the lower right-handcornerof The pinion 46 on the main or central shaft drives the gear 70mounted on the shaft 71, which shaft in turn drives the roll 72 throughspeed reducing gearing and by means of a chain 72 and its idler the roll73. The said shaft 71 through the gears yed whichis supported a atsuitable positions are holders 80,

- naeos the shait lt, which latter of the character previously descrir'drives the single rolls 7'3 and 78. ilhe rolls l3 and 78 are locatedrtively m the upper left-hand and right-hand ends of the secondaryframe. Fig. l.

It will he seen that the main. shaft id. is centrally located, Fig. land that about it and extending outwardly therefrom in a. generallyradial direction are sets oil gearing which by'reason of their sizes andlocations drive the diiierentrolls oi the'upper. and lower sets atvarying peripheral speeds in accordance with the linear speed of thewire as its cross section decreases and its length increases. it willalso be seen that there are four shafts 4.8, (it, 71 and 716 which areso situated and so arranged as to centers that spur gearing havingmeshing teeth are employed and which drivethe rolls nearest to the maincentral shaft 4:1, and that these same shafts through sprockets andchains drive those rolls which are the iarthest away from said shaft andoccupy the end positions on the vertical partition ll. The exactrelation of the arts is definitely shown in Fig. 1, while 1g. 5 is aperspective view in which for the purpose of illustration the parts havebeen opened it and clearly shows how one part is driven rom another. Thevarious shaits are mounted in ha hearings as best shown in Fig. 25, onebearing for each shaft heing supported. by the rear wall of thepartition 11 and the other hearing mounted in the removable cover 13.From this figure it will also be seen that oi the driving mechanism isenclosed in a narrow housing so that the machine as a whole isrelatively thin; that said gearing is fully pro= tested from injury andthat the housing also protects the operator irom injury.

0n the front face of the partition ll in addition to the drawing rollsand located ldi 5, for the diamond dies 18, which latter have thenecessary freedom in their mounting to permit them to move slightly in atransverse plane to the wire and which are prevented from. movinglongitudinally therewith. From Figs. 1 and 6 it will be seen that a die.is located a short distance in advance of each of the rolls whereby areduction in. section of the wire is caused to take place priorto heingwrapped around each of the rolls. By placing all of the drivingmechanism on the hack of the vertical partitionll and: the rollshorizontal positions,

7d and drives throu gearing and dies on the front in it becomes a simplematter to thread the wire through the machine. Having threaded the wireand started the machine into operation, the metal curtain 28 is loweredand all of the mechanism is therefore well covered and protected. v

By reason of the driving mechanism described and the locatlon of thedrawing rolls,

- ployed in drawing wire he so related one the s d of the latter may ageof the wire to the other thatthe slip with respect to the roll sur acesis reduced to a small amount, which is sucient to talre care ofnormaldie weanand much smaller than with other machmescommonly cmfromone diameter to another. The gearing descrihed permits ot a greetvarietyin. the teeth or. in other words, speed ratios.

lit is to jbe particularly noted that the main driving shaft dl occupiesa central position with respect Fig. l, and that the gearing radiates infour directions therefrom which makes a very com act arrangement andresults in a short mac ine tor the work to he performed. The arrangementis such that with the same driving mechanism double rolls, such as shownin Fig. i, may be used on all eight of the roll shafts for small wirewhereby sixteen reductions in section of the wire may be obtainedinstead oi twelve as shown. 'lhe use of single rolls in the top row anddouhle rolls in the hottom row permits the reductions in the wire to bemade at a lower speed than where all of the rolls are douhle,-anarrangement well adapted for larger sizes of wire.

made singlewith a somewhat lower spec numbers ot meshing to the rows ofdrawing rolls,

dos

oi the wire. in brief, by utilizing the same frame and simply changinthe diameters of the rolls and insome cases t e many difi'erent sizes ofwire may be drawn. in fact these changes permit of the same machinebeing used for as many sizes of wire as previously required threediderent machines of the priortypes. The rolls are arranged so that thesupply wire enters and the finished wire comes out from the same on ofthe machine.

The arrangement of the rolls in the front of the machine and one rowabove the other also greatly simplifies the threading oi the wireinitially or in the case of breakage of the wire. For small wire it isusually only necessary to insert the broken end into the die and thenpull it through the next die and wrap it around a roll. The end isagainbroken which reduces its section and permits of being threaded into andpulled through the next die and so on. For large wires it is usuallynecessary to point the wire heiorc it can be inser into the dies. Myimproved construction also has the advantages that the machine iscompact, occupies a minimum amount of door space, is easy to string up,and may be operated at high speed without excessive vibration.

It is also to be noted that the wire enters and leaves the machine atthe same end, which with the arrangement of rolls and drivingmechanismshown, results in a short machine for a predetermined drawingoperation. This is attained in part by having gearing as well,

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upper row of rolls until its section is some what reduced it travelsback and forth over.

rolls in the lower row, first at the right hand end and then the leftwhere it leaves the ma chine. From another point of view in passing overthe lower rolls the wire resembles a belt passing over rolls at bothends of the loop.

What I claim as new and desire .to secure by Letters Patent ofthe UnitedStates, is,

'1. Ina wire drawing machine, the com-- bination of. a frame having avertical partition, drawing rolls arranged in spaced parallel rows onthe front face of the partition, the wire continuously passing .over ofrolls from one end of the machine to the other and looping back andforth first over the rolls at one end of the other row and then loopingback and forth over the other end rolls of the same row and leaving themachine at the same end at which it entered, fixed dies between rolls, amain driving shaft on the back side of the partition centrall locatedboth horizontally and vertically wit respect to said rows, shafts fordriving the rolls, gearing between the main roll shafts, other gearingtransmitting motion from certain of the roll shafts nearer the mainshaft to the shafts of the end rolls both in the upper and lower rows,whereby the surface speed of the rolls is progressively increasedstarting with the first roll in the first row and ending with the rollunder the first in the lower row, and a motor for driving the.

main shaft at a predetermined constant speed.

2. In a wire drawing machine, the combination of a frame having avertical partition, spaced drawing rolls mounted on the front ofthepartition and arranged in horizontal rows, one row, above the otherwith the initial and final rolls located at the same end of the machine,horizontal shafts extending through the partition from the rear fordriving each of the rolls, a main driving shaft located centrally of theframe in the rear of the partition, pairs of spur gearing located in therear of the partition for independently transmitting motion from themain shaft to some of the roll shafts'of both the upper and lower rolls,other gearing also located in the rear of the partition for transmittingmotion from certain of the roll shafts to other roll shafts located atgreater distances from the main shaft, all of said gearings cooperatingto dr1ve the rolls at one row the partition,

progressively increasing surface speeds from the initial to the finalroll to distribute the nation of a frame having avertical partition,

spaced drawing rolls mounted on the front of the partition and arrangedin spaced horizontal rows of three or more, those in one row turning inone direction and those in the other row in the opposite direction, the

wire entering and leaving the machine at the same end and passing overeach roll of one row in one direction and over each roll of the otherrow in the opposite direction, horizontal shafts for the rolls extendingthrough thepartition from the rear side thereof,a main driving shaftlocated at the rear. of the partition in a position approximatelycentral of said rows both vertically and horizontally, gearing betweenthe main and roll shafts also located in the rear of said gearingdriving the rolls at progressively increasing surface speedscorresponding to the increased length of wire due to reduction of itscross-section to distribute the total slippage over all of the rolls andprevent concentration thereof at one roll, and dies supported on thefront of the partition in such positions as to act on the wire I therolls. 1

4. In a wire drawing machine, the combination of a frame having avertical partitlon, spaced drawing rolls mounted on the front of thepartition and arranged in horizontal rows, one row above the other,those in one row turning in one direction and those in the other row inthe opposite direct1o n, the wire enterin and leaving the machine atthesame en and passing over the rolls of one row in the same direction andover the rolls of the other row in the opposite direction, extendingthrough the partition from the rear side thereof, a main driving shaftlocated at the rear of the partition in a-pohorizontal shafts for therolls prior to its passing around each of sition approximately centralof said rows both vertically and horizontally, spur gears driven by themain shaft for directly driving certain of the roll driving shafts,chain gear-.

ing driven by certain of the roll shafts for driving those-rolls locatedat the extreme ends of both of said rows, said spur and chain nation ofa frame having a vertical partition, a series of drawing rolls mountedon the front face of said partition, some of said rolls having aplurality of drum faces and being arranged in pairs so that the wirepasses around the first roll of'said pair-to and around the second rollthereof, loops back over said first roll and passes again around saidsecond roll before passing to the next succeeding roll, dies supportedon the front of said partition in such position as to act upon the wireprior to passing around each roll and means for driving said rolls.

6. In a wire drawing machine the combination of a frame having avertical partition, a series of drawing rolls mounted on the front faceof said rolls having drum aces of difierent diampassin eters and beingarranged in pairs so that the wire passes around a small drum face onthe first roll of said pair to and around a small drum face of thesecond roll of said pair, loops back over a larger drum face of thefirst roll and passes to and around a larger drum face of the secondroll, dies supported on the front of said partition in such position asto act on the wire prior to its around each drum face and means fordriving said rolls.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of May,1930.

ERNEST W. CLARK.

artition, some of said

